Pokémon: Aura Guardian
by FanWriterWill
Summary: The beginning of one boy and his faithful companion's amazing adventure.
1. Beginnings

This was it. The day had finally come. After years of waiting it had come. My 16th birthday had finally arrived. To most, it was just another birthday, with the added benefit of becoming an adult (well one enough). But to me? It meant so much more. It meant everything. I've lived in the Hoenn region most of my life, moving from the Kanto region when I was six. My father was a gym leader in Kanto but was relocated as an advisor to the Devon Corporation's President on Pokémon-Human relationships. All with a free relocation, a hefty pay and access to one of the most powerful companies on Earth. It was an offer he couldn't refuse!

I lived in Littleroot Town with my mother and father, although my dad spent a lot of time in Rustboro City working with Mr Stone. He was a great man; smart and sophisticated, someone you could look up to. On the morning of my birthday I woke up early. Oblivious to the specialty of the day, I made no attempt to actually get up. After rubbing my eyes and a quick look at a nearby calendar I quickly realised the date. Excited, I shot up out of bed and went to my mirror. I looked in it, feeling immediately reinvigorated and woken up. I looked over myself in the mirror. I was a good looking kid; tall and fairly athletic. I followed my dad's side, standing at an exceptionally large 6ft 3 with a fairly muscular body. Nothing interesting or noticeable, but I could hold my own in a fight! Soon though, I wouldn't have to fight by myself. Today was special, because after 16 long years of waiting I could finally get my starter Pokémon from the local professor. Usually, your father would catch you your first Pokémon but as mine was around little, the local professor promised he'd give me one on my 16th birthday.

The professor of Littleroot Town was the talented Professor Birch. He specialised in rare Pokémon and evolution, and therefore had a large collection of Pokémon which he was very proud of. The agreement was that I'd receive one of these rare Pokémon on my 16th birthday, the age set by my mum. I quickly checked the clock: it read 10:43am. I was late! I hastily got dressed and ran downstairs. My mother sat there with a breakfast prepared for me. Sadly, this would go to waste. I was in too much of a rush to eat, which is saying something for me! I kissed my mother goodbye and fled out the door. She argued against my rush in vain and just laughed as I left.

As I reached the door to the Pokémon lab I practically burst through in excitement. The other scientists looked at me in a mixture of shock and askance. The professor looked at me in surprise and then deep regret.

"Oh, Will. It's-uh-it's you. Can I ask why you're here?" He said, as if trying to check if I'd remembered the day."

"I'm here to get my Pokémon, Professor! Remember?! You said today, on my birthday, you'd-"

"I know, Will. I know. It's just- there's something wrong with today." He said with an apologetic look.

"What? What's wrong?" Professor Birch sighed, turned around and rested his hands on his desk, and spoke:

"I don't have a Pokémon for you."

"Wh- what?" I asked in total shock.

"It's just- I was so into my research that I forgot and…" The professor was cut off by a loud crash and a cry, followed by more banging and a shout. We quickly ran around the corner of his office to see what all the commotion was about.

As we reached the source of the noise, I saw an unusual creature. It was kind of small, standing just under my waist and looked a bit like a humanoid dog or a jackal. Its main body was a dark blue with parts of its chest, hands, feet and face being black. It had large piercing red eyes and spikes on its hand and feet. It can't have been a native Pokémon to Hoenn, because I'd never seen or heard of it before, but something about it was… good, inviting. I felt a strong attachment to it, and considering I'd never seen such a thing before: this was very, very odd.

"What is going on here?!" Professor Birch shouted at his disgruntled employees. The sound of his shouts and orders were slowly drowned out as I lost focus on the situation. The unknown creature had stopped its actions and was instead staring right at me. I stared at it, losing all sense of time and of my surroundings. Its eyes were mesmerizing, they felt as though they belonged to someone I'd known and loved all my life; and yet, it was flawed. It was scared, imperfect, and uncertain. There was something wrong with the creature, and yet something so reassuring.

A few minutes had passed, yet it felt like hours and as I came to I noticed I was being stared at. Professor Birch and several of his scientists were staring at me in awe. They began to murmur and discuss among themselves, then the Professor spoke:

"That-You-Him?" he said in shock. He spent some time recomposing himself, then began to explain their shock:

"The reason this Pokémon was here is because we were researching it." He walked over to the dog-like Pokémon. "This is a Riolu from the Sinnoh region, a place far away from here, which is exceedingly rare. More so, it's very powerful. The special thing about this Pokémon is that it has the ability to manipulate the aura of living things; something we've been researching for a while now. We found out about Riolu's abilities and were attempting to learn of these, but we couldn't get through to it no matter what we did!" The Riolu was standing alert, fixated on Professor Birch as if it expected an assault.

"But you. It seems to accept you, and that's just what we need, right now." He looked up to me in hope "We want you to take the Riolu as your starter Pokémon; raise it, care for it, learn from it. All we ask is you update us with any changes you witness from the Pokémon."

I could have cried. After the shock of being told I couldn't become a trainer, I was suddenly given a powerful, rare one with whom I could take my journey with. It's all I ever wanted.


	2. Leaving Home

Riolu and I had left the company of Professor Birch and his crew with warm hearts and open minds; well, at least one of us had. My new Pokémon was…reluctant to cooperate with me. I had decided that before I chose what I wanted to do, I had do develop some sort of bond with my companion. If I couldn't become real friends with it soon, I at least needed to learn something about him. I took the Riolu around to my back garden. The Professor discouraged the use of a Pokéball, because it was already too untrusting to use one anyway.

I opened the gate to my back garden, let the hesitant Riolu in, and sat down on the grass. The Pokémon was only little so this put me at just under his head. I was a total novice as a trainer, and the only actual experience I had with a Pokémon was my mum's Delcatty; and that has been hers since she was a girl! I hadn't seen much on how to actually raise a Pokémon, the nearest trainer school was again in Rustboro City, but I knew that I needed to get through to him properly before I'd make any progress on actually training him. I looked the Riolu dead in the eyes, and spoke (well, I tried to speak):

"Erm… Hi?" I nervously said, the Riolu just looked at me unapprovingly. "So, you came here from the Sinnoh region? Do you remember it?" I knew Pokémon could understand English, although they couldn't speak more than a growl, but I might at least get a nod or something. The Riolu stared at me, but this time it wasn't a blank emotionless one: it was a… homesick one. I could almost feel the sadness of the creature (I think that's called empathy, but that was usually with humans, right?). In the back of my head I could almost hear a whisper: a child's voice, weak and quiet. No matter what I did, the voice was there; it was persistent yet I couldn't make out any words, and it started just after I was given Riolu…

My thoughts were cut off by a shout – which was really becoming a habit now! – by a young boy. Not much younger than me, he had lived in my town since before I moved there. I think his name was Gary, and he was extremely irritating. He took such pride in the Poochyena his father had caught for him that he never shut up about it! I was ridiculed by him for not having a Pokémon, until now maybe. The boy ran over and peered over the fence surrounding my garden:

"Hey Will! Watcha' got there?" he asked. This was the first time I was actually glad to speak to him, because I could finally shut him up!

"Oh, this little guy? Just my new Pokémon, Riolu." I answered practically beaming. The boy looked shocked, and almost upset, but he still shot back:

"Oh, yeah? Well I bet it's nothing compared to my amazing Poochyena; I bet it could easily beat your little 'Riola'" He leered, adding air quotes with his fingers and deliberately pronouncing his name wrong. This seemed to be a trigger for the mute Riolu, as it suddenly perked up and began to pay attention to the situation. The small voice in my head got a little louder, a little clearer. The Riolu finally nodded, so I took this as a 'yes' from my new ally.

"Go on then, we're ready and waiting!"

The young boy opened the door to my gate and strode in confidently, his Poochyena trailing proudly behind his feet. The boy set up at one end of the garden and I at the other. I'd seen him do this several times before, but me? I had literally no experience in the subject. I nervously stood by as the boy quickly barked a command at his Pokémon:

"Poochyena! Tackle!" His companion growled then sped forwards at breakneck speeds; I could barely see him, and expected Riolu to get hit, but I suddenly heard a cry. I smiled as I saw my Riolu standing happily to his left, and a confused Poochyena lying against the fence. My Pokémon had seamlessly dodged the attack! I looked back at the boy with a smile:

"Still want to carry on?"

"Poochyena! Bite!" The creature quickly stood back up, and jumped at Riolu. My ally simply stuck his arm out, and hit the enemy in his face. A clean knock-out! The Poochyena crumbled to the floor and his master quickly ran to him.

"Wha-what?! You cheated!" He cried, sore tears falling from his eyes. It was almost upsetting to see him get so worked up over it, but I suppose that's how battles are supposed to work!

After the boy ran away to his home, I sat back down with my Pokémon. It was already noticeable; Riolu was more open and actually looked happy to see me. It was still very quiet and fairly reserved, but I think it had decided I was worth it's time. Instead of standing opposite me, my Pokémon sat next to me. It looked at me as if to say 'what's next?', and to be honest I still hadn't decided, but the first thing on my list: my mum. Before I did anything, I had to say goodbye.

I walked into my house as I always did. My mother was sitting by the small table in front of the TV, like she always did (I swear she never moved!). She greeted me warmly:

"Hello, Will! How was the Professor? Did he-? Oh, and who's this little guy, huh?" she asked smiling at Riolu. He looked at her with slight unease, although I was opening him up, he was still so untrusting!

"This is Riolu. He's a very rare Pokémon from the Sinnoh Region."

"Wow, really? Did the Professor give you him?"

"Yeah, he did. They were researching him in their laboratory, but they decided to give him to me instead."

"Oh, then congratulations! So, have you decided what you want to do with him?" I couldn't give an answer to this, because even though I was anticipating this day for most of my life I hadn't actually thought of what to do after I got the Pokémon! Most of the people in my town simply kept their companions as friends and left it at that.

Just then, the television caught our attention with a large breaking news report. I expected it to simply be about Team Magma or Aqua again, they have been stealing Pokémon from trainers and using them to supposedly help 'elevate the world' or something. Personally, I think they're nuts, and they've never bothered Littleroot Town so I just didn't pay attention. Instead, it was a report from Rustboro City about the gym there. Apparently it had been closed for a while due to renovations and was now reopening today.

"Of course! I take the Pokémon League Challenge!" I realised almost shouting it out. My mum looked at me horrified. We hadn't ever travelled past Oldale town to get groceries, since my dad almost came home from Rustboro and we never visited.

"Mum, don't worry! I'm 16! I'll be fine." I said calmly. She always over reacted to this kind of thing, but she eventually got over it. Just then, Riolu leapt onto the table and looked my mum dead in the eyes. I swear I saw a slight glow, but before I could question it my mum spoke:

"N-no… It's fine." She shook her head, as if waking up from a trance "Go. Just be careful, promise?" I gave her hug and smiled.

As I was about to leave, I was quickly called back by my mum again. She ran to me with a package.

"I almost forgot to give you your present!" She handed me the box and I hastily opened it. Inside was the brand new Pokénav, which wasn't even out yet!

"How on earth did you get this?!" I asked surprised, pulling out the device and turning it on. It whirred into life and greeted me by name.

"Dad sent it from work, and set it up for you as well." She answered. "It's got my number in it, so just call if you ever need me, ok?" I hugged her again, checked on Riolu and left with a smile on my face.


	3. The Journey to Rustboro City

The trip to Oldale Town was a quick one- after all; the town was only a few yards away- and rather uneventful. Oddly enough, we didn't see any wild Pokémon on the way. Not a single one! Usually some Zigzagoon or Poochyenas were found there, or maybe the occasional Taillow. I thought nothing of it; the weather hadn't been too good lately and maybe they were just hiding from it. It couldn't be anything to do with Team Aqua being in this area, could it?

The small town of Oldale is quite frankly tiny. It was more a hamlet than a town; having two houses, a Pokémon Centre and a PokéMart doesn't even constitute a village! As we stepped into the hamlet, we decided to make a plan for what to actually do. It was still morning so we had plenty of time to think and sort things out. We stepped into the Pokémon Centre and were impressed by its size. The building was two-storey, with the top floor being off limits for some reason. On the ground floor, there was a counter with a petite nurse behind it; a large computer in the corner and a table near the entrance. I sat down on one of the chairs and Riolu jumped upon the table surface. I pulled the backpack I brought with us and placed it on the table as well. Inside were the bare essentials: a map of Hoenn, a couple of Pokéballs, a journal, two bottles of water and the PokéNav. All a trainer needed! Well, sort of…

After looking over the map with Riolu, I decided that we had to reach Rustboro City by nightfall, at least. Dad was there and we could stay in his apartment for the night. Also, the first gym was situated there and so was the trainer school. A trip there would be useful for me. We packed up quickly and before we could leave, we were quickly interrupted. A young girl about my age burst through the door. She was of average height and lithely built, with brunette hair and pale skin. She was dressed in a red sleeveless jacket with black short-shorts. Her hair was kept smart with a green bandana and she had her bag strapped around her waist Her name was May and she was Professor Birch's daughter. She ran into me and we both fell over. She began apologising hastily:

"Oh my god! I'm so- so sorry! I was- I was just-" She cried trying to help me up, then she realised who I was: "Will?" she asked

"Hi, May!" I responded friendlily "What are you doing here?"

"Well I was just taking Mudkip out for a look up north from here. Wait, what are you doing? You don't even-?" she began to say, before spotting Riolu next to me "You finally got a Pokémon?! Congratulations!" She embraced me happily, then bent down to address Riolu. He looked at her with unease, clearly not trusting her yet.

"He seems a bit… quiet." She noticed

"Yeah, he's a little slow to trust." I said. Riolu suddenly looked at me, hurt. "But he's brilliant, and really powerful." I quickly said to try and fix the problem. He looked a little better, but nothing much.

"Oh, so he's powerful? Why don't you prove it?" she challenged, raising an eyebrow "Meet me up north, on the top field and we'll battle, deal?" I gave a quick look to Riolu, who nodded, and then shook her hand:

"Deal. Meet you there."

The trip up to the north field was short. We'd bought a couple of potions before we left for the battle. Sure enough, May was sitting on the ledge waiting for me:

"Took your time, didn't you?" she asked teasingly, with a smile.

"Does it matter? You're going down either way" I replied

"Oh, so we've got a talker here? Well-"she began, standing up on the ledge "-have you got the power to back it up?"

It was a two Pokémon battle: my Riolu vs. May's Mudkip. We set up on the small field facing each other. I'd had some time to learn Riolu's move set beforehand: Pound, Force Palm and Counter. Overall, they were powerful but relied on me to not be going up against a Psychic or a Flying type, with Riolu being a pure Fighting type. This time though, it was my turn to start the battle:

"Riolu! Use Force Palm!" I ordered. Riolu got off to a running start, and as he got within a few metres of his foe he leapt of the ground, travelling high into the air, and then landed his hit on Mudkip. The Mudkip took the blow well, falling to the floor but stepping back up almost immediately. May's Pokémon braced itself, then opened its mouth. A large jet of water shot out of it and hit Riolu, hard. Riolu stood strong against the power, and when it lessened Riolu fell to the floor. He stood back up, shook off the pain, and got back to the fight. The Mudkip attacked again, this time with a simple Tackle. I knew how to sort this out:

"Riolu! Counter the attack!" Riolu watched the Mudkip, and when it reached him he struck. He grabbed the Mudkip's legs, pulled him up in the air and slammed him back down on the ground. This was the final blow, as Mudkip hit the ground and quickly passed out. May ran to her unconscious companion and picked her up.

"Oh, Mudkip!" she said worryingly, she then handed over some money (as is custom) and congratulated me. "Nice Job. I honestly thought you weren't ready for this!"

"No worries. I'll walk you back to Oldale." I said smiling.

Once we were back in Oldale, and May had healed her Mudkip and left, Riolu and I decided to start our journey for real. We walked to the west of the town and left onto Route 102. As we began walking the route, we noticed something wrong. The area was completely empty! Not a Pokémon or trainer in sight! Usually this area was full of novices and Pokémon. I looked at Riolu, who seemed to be observing the area intensely. He suddenly growled at a patch of grass, and jumped at it. As he rustled the grass, a small creature jumped out with a cry. It was a very small creature, with a white body that looked a little like it was wearing pyjamas to be for it and a green hat-like growth on its head. The most noticeable feature was the prominent red curved spike on its forehead. Overall, it looked like a small child. I'd seen one of these on the TV, it's a Ralts. The Ralts looked extremely scared, but not just because Riolu had jumped it. It looked at me, shaking and then curled into a ball. My Riolu walked back to me and looked at me for a sign of approval, so I ruffled the fur on its head. As I turned my attention to the Ralts, I noticed him smiling happily. The Ralts on the other hand, looked horrified. Considering my options, I knew it would be wrong to leave it on its own here; but would it want to come with us? Deciding on the former, I pulled a Pokéball from my bag. I quickly threw the ball at the Ralts. As it saw it coming, it flinched just before the Pokéball attempted to work. The Pokémon was absorbed into the ball and it shook as the Pokémon attempted to escape. Giving up its fight, the Pokéball sealed and the Ralts was mine.

After I'd caught the Ralts, I sat down by the nearby lake and let it out. Noticing us again, it cowered in fear again. Attempting to calm in down and earn its trust, I pulled a few Pokémon snacks I bought from the PokéMart and motioned them towards her (oh yeah, it's a female). She slowly pulled herself out of her hands and inched towards the snacks. Taking one, she suddenly smiled and jumped in joy. She began running around me and Riolu, who saw this as an attack. I had to calm him down slightly but as he did, he began to laugh too and join in! I chuckled as they clumsily fell into the lake. This was it. This was my dream, slowly becoming true.

We eventually calmed down and began to walk towards Petalburg Town. Ralts was put away in her Pokéball since she was a little slow at walking and I preferred having only one Pokémon to walk with. We learnt her move set a while ago, she was only young and therefore only had two moves: Growl and Confusion. Riolu looked really happy right now, and I think he kind of needs that. He's been through a lot and needs some fun; but why was he brought here anyway? Maybe I'll find out soon, but first things first: the Pokémon League; and Rustboro City was my first target. Once I reached the city, I could challenge the gym leader but first: I had to visit my father at the Devon Corporation. He'd be over the moon with the fact I had my own Pokémon, and having two for that matter! Also, he may be able to help me with my journey; after all he had a lot of important contacts! But before we got to that point: Petalburg Town.

Petalburg Town was a small town near the beach. It was mostly ordinary, except for the Pokémon Gym situated there that was the 5th gym in the League! Obviously that meant I had no interest in it… yet. The sleepy town was just a pit stop on my journey for me, a chance to purchase some supplies and equipment, but all the same it was the farthest I've ever travelled from home, which means after this I've travelled farther than ever before (after all I'd come here for the beach once with my mum and dad). We quickly bought our supplies and left Petalburg quickly, as there was no reason for me to stay.

We stepped out onto the beach and Riolu hesitantly felt the sand between his toes. Deciding we could have some fun here, I let Ralts out of her Pokéball. Unlike Riolu, Ralts took to it like a Psyduck to water. She happily strolled around in the sand, and eventually Riolu joined in too. They looked like they were having a lot of fun, and I laughed as Riolu fell and got a face full of sand. He stood up smiling and wiping sand of his face. As they played, I looked at the next part of our journey: Petalburg Woods; the small forest located between Rustboro and Petalburg. I'd never travelled into it before, as it is largely full of Pokémon and without one for me it was must too dangerous to go there by myself; but with two Pokémon for myself…

Riolu and Ralts had finished they're little game so we headed out to the forest. There weren't many trainers out on the road, and those that were there were taking break from travelling; except for one. A young woman was waiting out on the path with her single Pokémon. She caught my eye and challenged me to a battle:

"Hey, you! Come and battle me!" she cried, quickly brandishing a Pokéball. I quickly accepted the battle, and as she threw out her Pokémon I saw that it was a Machop. Knowing that Machop was a Fighting type, and that Ralts was super effective against them, I sent her out. She hesitantly got into a sort of battle stance. I quickly sent out an attack:

"Ralts! Use Confusion!" Ralts stood strong as the red point on her head began to glow. A glow appeared around the Machop's head and it suddenly fell to the ground clutching its head. As the light diminished, the Machop stood up, but very slowly. The Machop was confused! The trainer ordered an attack, but there was a problem as the Machop fell over. The attack failed, so I sent out a second Confusion. The attack knocked him out, and I won the battle. The trainer begrudgingly gave out my winnings and fled to Petalburg. Ralts looked extremely pleased, and a little stronger. I congratulated her with a snack and we entered the forest.

The forest itself was rather small; it was the Pokémon in it that were dangerous. They were mostly Bug type, well-known for their quick levelling up and evolution. I personally never liked them, they were a bit too small for my liking… Oddly enough though, the forest was rather absent of Pokémon; or anything for that matter! Something seemed to be scaring the Pokémon away from this area. I didn't have time to worry about it, because as I stepped outside the forest area, my goal was in sight: Rustboro City.


End file.
